Page 120 of Stone Cold Touch

I nodded and then realized, like an idiot, he couldn’t see me.Yes.I paused and then typed,So is Bambi.

Minutes passed after my last text and I realized that Roth wasn’t going to respond. If he was mad that we’d exposed him, I didn’t know, but I had a feeling he probably really didn’t care. Just as I rolled over to put my cell phone on the nightstand, he responded.

U probably shouldn’t have gone to the movies w/ Stony, huh?

I stared at the message, half annoyed and half amused that somehow this was Roth’s only takeaway. Like being with Stony—er, Zayne—made a difference. I didn’t respond because I figured the conversation would only go downhill at this point.

My phone went off again, but this time, it was from Zayne.

U up for company?

I laughed at the fact we were in the same house and he was texting me.

Sure.

Incoming.

Turning my gaze to the door, I watched it open no more than a second later. I fought a smile. “Were you waiting out in the hall?”

“Maybe.” Zayne had changed, wearing black sweats and a white shirt. He sat down on the bed beside me. “Hanging in there?”

“Yeah. Just tired.”

He stretched out on his side beside me, resting his cheek on his elbow. “It’s been one Hell of a day.”

“What did Abbot have to say about it?”

A cloud passed over his features. “Nothing much.”

Immediately, I knew there was more. I rose up on my elbow. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing.” Zayne laughed, but something about it was strained. “Relax, Layla-bug. Today has been crazy enough without adding crap to it.”

“But—”

“Everything is fine. Chill. I have the rest of the evening off and I want to spend it with you. Salvage the rest of our date,” he said, toying with the edge of my sleeve. “All right?”

Protests formed on the tip of my tongue, but he was right. We’d had enough crap to last us the rest of the week, which reminded me of tomorrow. “Are we still checking out that house tomorrow night?”

“Yep.”

I eased onto my back, watching him. Thick lashes shielded his eyes as he ran his finger along the vein in my wrist. I wasn’t picking up any overpowering emotion from him; then again, my own feelings were all jumbled together.

In the silence that fell between us, my mind wandered to what the man had shown me at the theater. “Can I ask you a question and you be honest?”

He arched a brow. “I can try to be honest.”

I ignored that. “Do you think what I did to that lady is any different than what the Lilin is doing?”

His lashes swept up and his eyes were a startling cobalt. “It’s completely different, Layla. You were just a kid who had no idea what you were doing. The Lilin is doing this on purpose.”

“True, but...” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “But I fed off that woman last Thursday night. Yeah, it was a weird circumstance, but I did that.”

“We don’t even know if what that bastard said was true,” he argued. “Just because he said that was the lady, doesn’t mean it was really her. And even if it was her, there’s no proof that you affected her life in that manner. There’s no reason for us to believe that.”

“You really think so?” I wished I could share his certainty.

“Yes.” He paused. “Speaking of Thursday night, what kind of weird circumstance are we talking about here?”

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